Nico Harrison was doomed by more than Luka Doncic trade

Nico Harrison had to know his time was short when the Dallas Mavericks started the 2025-26 slow. That the Mavericks had to use portable stairs to let Harrison escape the wrath of angry fans was another terrible sign.

The Mavericks fell to 3-8 after a 116-114 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 11. Harrison was relieved of his GM duties the following morning, just 17 months after the Mavericks reached the NBA Finals. While fans were most upset by Harrison trading superstar Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis, plenty of other decisions doomed the general manager.

Nico Harrison overestimated his team and himself

Dallas had a very good team in 2023-24, but it was a team that won 50 games and finished fifth in the Western Conference. The Mavericks missed the playoffs in 2022-23, but Harrison's subsequent moves helped them make their first Finals in 13 years. Harrison clearly believed the success came from him, not Doncic, but many of the moves haven't aged well.

The disastrous 2022-23 season put them in position to acquire center Dereck Lively II in the 2023 draft. Lively's strong rookie season helped anchor the Mavericks defense, especially in the playoffs. But to get Lively at No. 12, the Mavericks traded No. 10 pick Cason Wallace, a key piece on the Oklahoma City Thunder's championship team who leads the NBA in steals per game.

And he's playing. Lively missed 46 games last season and eight games this year. For his career, he's missed 81 games. Wallace has missed 15. 

Later, Harrison traded for No. 24 pick Olivier-Maxence Prosper, then waived him after two seasons.

Harrison also traded for P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford, two solid moves that cost the Mavericks two first-round picks — partly to dump Grant Williams, who Harrison signed to a $53M deal.

Nico Harrison built around Luka Doncic — then dealt him

The moves Harrison made after the Finals run made sense for a team that had a superstar lead guard like Doncic. When Doncic was sent away, the team's holes were exposed.

Dallas replaced defensive ace Derrick Jones, Jr. with Naji Marshall after the season, after Jones started all 22 playoff games. Jones helped the Los Angeles Clippers to the NBA's No. 3 defense, while Marshall was a defensive downgrade who shot 27.5 percent from three-point range.

The Mavericks let Jones leave because they gave 34-year-old Klay Thompson $50M for three years and promised him a starting role. Thompson was awful on defense, something that was obvious in his final season with the Golden State Warriors. This year Thompson lost his starting spot.

Harrison dumped Tim Hardaway Jr. to make room for Thompson and picked up Quentin Grimes. Then, he swapped Grimes, who's averaging 17.2 points and 4.4 assists for the Philadelphia 76ers, for Caleb Martin, who barely plays.

The Mavericks went heavy on forwards and centers to surround a playmaking guard who is no longer there. After Kyrie Irving tore his ACL, Harrison's only addition was D'Angelo Russell, a player who wore out his welcome with four NBA teams — and twice with the Los Angeles Lakers. They've had to play No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg at point guard, a position he's never played, with predictably poor results.

Now the Mavericks are short on draft picks and even trade assets — older and injured players won't get big returns. Meanwhile the supposedly out-of-shape Doncic is averaging 37.1 points for the Lakers, whose record is the inverse of the Mavericks at 8-3.

The Luka trade was a disaster. But Harrison's other moves included plenty of smaller calamities. He and the portable stairs won't be missed.